Jay Blades, 54, is the host of BBC’s Repair Shop a TV show where members of the public bring beloved items that are broken to be repaired by a team of experts. However, recently, the host has been experiencing grief after his uncle tragically passed away.
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As a result, Blades has announced he is taking a break from social media as he deals with the loss. Sadly, for the TV host, death isn’t the only issuehe is currently facing. Indeed, his wife recently left him as their relationship got ‘worse and worse’. Here’s everything that is happening in Jay Blades’ life.
Jay Blades’ uncle was stabbed
As reported by Daily Mail, Jay Blades’ uncle, Richard Brathwaite, 72, was found dead on Cromwell Road in Wembley on March 21. According to reports, Brathwaite’s neighbour, Derek Brown, 72, allegedly stabbed him after an ongoing dispute.
It is thought that Brown attacked Brathwaite after accusing the latter of leaving items in their shared alleyway between their homes. As per Daily Mail, Jay Blades’ aunt, Annetta, 71, was also injured during the altercation and suffered cuts to her head and face.
It is believed that Richard Brathewaite’s funeral took place on Monday, April 29. The TV host paid tribute to his uncle and described him as a ‘really, super nice guy’ while adding that the suspected killing ‘should never have happened to him’.
Shortly after the funeral, the Repair Shop host, who welcomed King Charles on the show, shared a very emotional video on social media, explaining that his uncle’s death had ‘really affected’ him and he feels ‘a little bit messed up’.
[...] but it really affected me. I feel a little bit messed up.
Due to his current state, Blades announced that he was taking a break from social media to heal. He added that he is going to start therapy and essentially ‘chill out’ and that he would be back soon.
I'm coming off social media for a bit, and I'll be back in a bit. Going to go and get some therapy and just chill out.
Jay Blades’ second wife has left him
It has been reported by The Telegraph that Jay Blades’ second wife, Lisa Marie Zbozen, a fitness trainer, has ended their marriage. The two tied the knot in 2022 but, recently, Zbozen shared a post on social media explaining that ‘the world got the best parts of my husband’.
The world got the best parts of my husband, and over time, I got a whole lot of everything else.
On her Instagram, Lisa Marie Zbozen revealed that she had left Blades recently and that ‘it’s still very raw’. She explained that she was ‘incredibly sad’ about the breakup but despite their love, things ‘just got worse and worse’.
As per The Telegraph, she wrote:
I probably should be really angry but I’m just incredibly sad about the whole thing right now. I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much.
Adding:
I wanted my husband to love me and keep me safe, and I would love him right back, but it just got worse and worse, until I grabbed a bag of a few things and I left.
Jay Blades opens up about previous mental health battle
As Jay Blades deals with a very emotional time, it is not a first for the TV host. Indeed, as per Express, Blades was a guest on Waitrose's Dish podcast, hosted by Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett, where he talked about his mental health.
Blades, back in 2015, said he went through a mental health crisis after his first marriage ended and his business failed. He told the podcast that ‘everything flopped’ both his relationship with his ex-wife, Jade, with whom he shares a daughter, Zola, and the business they were running together.
Everything flopped for me. The business, the relationship, everything. It was a charity and we also had a business, and then I was running it with my ex-wife.
Jay went on to explain that after everything had failed, he felt suicidal, saying he ‘couldn't see myself being in tomorrow’ and had a plan to end things.
what happened was I got in a car, got on the M40 and was looking for a bridge to crash into.
Thankfully, the Repair Shop host couldn’t find a bridge and needed to stop to get petrol and stayed in a retail park for a week. Blades then explained that his smell had gotten so bad that he thought someone was standing behind him, which is when he decided to have a shower:
I'm walking across this car park and I could feel someone's presence and I looked behind me and there's no one there - it was my body odour. It had its own postcode.
Jay then revealed that after he got his shower gel and went back to his room, he found five strangers waiting for him, as per Express, there were two psychiatric nurses, a major and two police officers.
Blades explained that the group was there to section him under the Mental Health Act, which allows medical people to put someone under a psychiatric hold without their permission if they are considered a threat to themselves or others.
They started interviewing me, and all this time I'm like, 'I wanted to take a shower, I need to have a bath, I stink'. And it was only when they said to me, 'Oh, we don't have to section him.' And I was like, 'Who are you sectioning?' Because I'd done twenty years in community and I knew what sectioning was.
In the end, Jay wasn’t sectioned but they had notified his ex-wife, who then contacted someone who was living in Wolverhampton and was friends with him. The presenter ends his story there and says it is how he ended up living in Wolverhampton.
They left me and because they had notified my ex-wife, she then notified a guy that was living in Wolverhampton who I got on quite well with, and then he came and got me.
And that's how I've stayed in Wolverhampton. So that's the reason why I'm there, and that was in 2015.
Read more:
⋙ David Jason to appear in new TV show at 83 after badly suffering from Covid-19
⋙ Sinéad O'Connor: Here's all the mental health issues she struggled with before her death
⋙ Heidi Klum has decided to deactivate her Instagram comment section to protect her mental health
Sources used:
Daily Mail: ‘Revealed: Repair Shop star Jay Blades' beloved uncle, 72, was 'stabbed to death by neighbour on quiet residential street following long-running dispute over a shared alleyway'
The Telegraph: ‘Wife of presenter Jay Blades leaves marriage after it ‘got worse and worse’
Express: ‘BBC The Repair Shop's Jay Blades' seven-word reply to medics after mental health breakdown’
